10 Brilliant Music Books on the Art & Industry
From rock to hip-hop to country to punk to emo, here’s a list of superb music books to deepen the education for you or the music lover in your life.
biography
Bob Dylan Film ‘A Complete Unknown’ Is a Folk anti-Western
In wandering hero terms, Bob Dylan film A Complete Unknown is less a George Stevens’ Western like Shane and more an Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo – with guitars.
Sundance Film Festival 2025 Is at a Crossroads
While the Sundance Film Festival still uplifts under-the-radar films in an increasingly challenging market, its future may be in doubt.
Goth Punks AFI Get Their Flowers in New Biography
AFI’s resilience and innovation take center stage in Andi Coulter’s new biography, which is every bit as deserving of praise as more heralded peers.
The Best Film of 2024
Our Best Film of 2024 commemorates intriguing films, emerging voices and celebrated doyens searching for stranger narratives and new angles on existing legends.
The Best Books of 2024
PopMatters Best Books of 2024 include a broad range of nonfiction, many books on music, short fiction, a novel that turns a Mark Twain classic inside out, and much more.
Arthur Russell’s Underground Genius
Arthur Russell biography Travels Over Feeling is an elegy for a generation of underground artists that died too soon and a requiem for a vanished New York.
‘Louder Than You Think’: The Improbable Origins of Pavement
Louder Than You Think documents the early origins of indie rock’s Pavement through the cracked life and times of the band’s first drummer, Gary Young.
Bruce Springsteen Documentary ‘Road Diary’ Takes a Familiar Route
Bruce Springsteen documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band gets you there by taking a familiar yet still enjoyable route.
Graeme Thomson’s Revised ‘Under the Ivy’ Captures Kate Bush’s Complexity
While Kate Bush’s work and life defy clichés and easy categorization, Graeme Thomson chronicles her story while conveying its inherent ambiguity and mystery.
Venice Film Festival in Focus: ‘Queer’, ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, ‘2073’
In the vein of socially relevant topics at Venice Film Festival 2024, Queer, Joker: Folie a Deux, and 2073 got the island of Lido talking for different reasons.
‘The Beach Boys’ Documentary Brings the Sun and Surf to the New Kids
The Beach Boys documentary appeals to Gen Z and Gen Alpha via Disney Plus with a breezy, linear, appreciation of the band’s sunny legacy.